Monday, February 23, 2015

Google is Awarding Cash Grants up to $20,000 For Technology Researchers to Find Bugs

Google is reaching out to bug hunters across the country who are interested in helping them find bugs in particular products. A new grant program called Vulnerability Research Grants was recently launched to engage the help of researchers to find security flaws in products.Why the grant program was launched

The program pays cash rewards ranging from $100 - $20,000 on qualifying bugs. Qualifying means that Google has identified the issues that would substantially compromise the confidentiality or integrity of program data. Rewards will be available in three categories: newly launched services and features; services considered highly sensitive by Google; and critical patches for flaws that affect multiple Google products.

The new grant program represents the fourth Google grant reward program that demonstrates their ongoing efforts in working closely with the security community to ensure their products are secure. The difference with the new Vulnerability Research Grants program is that the rewards are paid up-front to researchers. The new program is intended to complement the other rewards programs.

Since 2010, Google has paid more than $4 million to researchers through its grant rewards programs. Google paid $1.5 million in rewards to more than 200 researchers in 2014 who reported more than 500 security bugs, according to Google security engineer Eduardo Vela Nava.